News Sushi #53: Morsels of News from Japan and Beyond

Editor Note:It is Friday and that means it is time for the World Famous, soon to be Intergalactic Famous, News Sushi from our very own, Hamish Downie. Hamish brings us a decidedly different slant on Pop Culture as viewed through the lens of a non-native living in Japan.

Thank you Hamish, for your insights.

I sometimes think about the time I had a work placement at Village Roadshow. For anyone outside of Australia, you might recognise them by having their logo on the front of “The Matrix” films. I was at University studying Graphic Design at the time, and I hoped that I could do a placement in the Design department and perhaps get a job there after I graduated. It was a tough placement because I was staying with my Dad who lived over an hour away by train. I was expecting an internship type program, but I ended up doing exactly what the Grade 10 (JHS Grade 2) students do on their work experience programs do – filing, posting, and more filing. I wasn’t even in the Design department. So, my 20 year old self decided that it was a complete waste of time and ended the placement early.

Flash forward to today, and the things I learned while on that placement are still useful to what I’m currently doing. At that company, all new employees are literally introduced to everyone in the company by walking alongside the extremely nice guy who used to deliver their mail. So, I’ve met the kinds of people who could have given my scripts the green-light. I worked with their direct Marketing team, and help send films out to video stores. Just being there and overhearing conversations in the Music department (who gave the world Savage Garden and Killing Heidi) has been worth it’s weight in gold. If there’s anything I could tell my younger self, it would be to finish that placement!

My short film, “An American Piano” was given a 4-star review this week, and we were also interviewed for this article:

Check out my interview with writer @hamishdownie & director Paul Leeming from short film #AnAmericanPiano. The moving & beautifully shot film is set in Japan in WW2 & is based on a true story. You can also watch the film & read my ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review.https://t.co/PoaOpmMney

When Ben and Keith threw the gauntlet down to me to write something about Japan, I thought that I’d do a one-off or occasional series of articles. I never expected it to be every week. But, like I said about the work placement with Village Roadshow, this has had so many dividends. As a writer, I’m forced to write regularly, which has helped keep my writing muscle fit. It’s given me a platform to promote my insanely talented friends and colleagues in the creative community here in Japan and elsewhere. I never thought this past year would be so dramatic for me, with being hospitalised on the one hand, and getting paid to be a travel reporter on the other hand.

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